Best Car Insurance in Philadelphia: The Coverage Decisions Behind the Answer

There is no single best car insurance in Philadelphia. A retired couple in Chestnut Hill with one garaged car, a nurse in Port Richmond who parks on the street and commutes at night, and someone driving for Uber out of University City are not buying the same thing. What is best depends on what you need a policy to pay and what you can afford, and that is for you to decide.

So this page ranks no companies and recommends no coverage. It sets out the decisions that make up a policy and what Pennsylvania law says about each: liability limits, full tort or limited tort, medical and other first party benefits, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and coverage for the car itself. The figures come from Pennsylvania’s vehicle code and the Insurance Department.

Car Insurance Philly is a referral service, not an insurer, agent or broker. It gives no quotes, does not recommend any insurance company and does not advise on which coverage to buy. When you call or send the request form, we take your request and connect you with a licensed Pennsylvania insurance agent. Only that agent can price each choice below or advise you on it, and the choices stay yours.

Liability limits: the minimum and what is available above it

Liability coverage pays other people when you are at fault. Pennsylvania’s minimums are $15,000 for one injured person, $30,000 for one accident and $5,000 for property damage. The Insurance Department explains what the limits mean: they are the most your company will pay, and if you are found at fault and do not have enough liability coverage, you may be responsible for anything your insurance does not cover.

The law makes sure there is room above the minimum. Outside the Assigned Risk Plan, every insurer must make available bodily injury limits of up to at least $100,000 for one person and $300,000 for one accident. Where to set the limit is your decision. Two of the questions the Department suggests putting to an agent are whether your limits are high enough to cover you if you are at fault, and how much it would cost to buy more than the minimum.

The tort decision, in full

Full tort keeps your unrestricted right to seek compensation from a driver who injures you, including for pain and suffering and other non-monetary loss. Limited tort costs less. Under it you can still recover medical and other out-of-pocket costs, but you cannot bring a claim for non-monetary loss unless the injury is a serious injury, which the statute defines as a personal injury resulting in death, serious impairment of body function or permanent serious disfigurement.

The statute then lists situations in which a person bound by limited tort is treated as if they had chosen full tort, or keeps full tort rights. They are set out here in the statute’s own terms.

Situation	Effect for someone who chose limited tort
The person at fault is convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance in that accident, or accepts ARD for it	You may recover damages as if you had chosen full tort.
The person at fault was operating a motor vehicle registered in another state	You may recover damages as if you had chosen full tort.
The person at fault intended to injure himself or another person	You may recover damages as if you had chosen full tort. The statute adds that an act is not an intentional injury merely because the act itself was intentional, or was done knowing it created a grave risk of injury, or was done to avert bodily harm.
The person at fault had not maintained the financial responsibility the law requires	You may recover damages from that person as if you had chosen full tort. The statute keeps one limit in place: a person barred from claiming non-monetary damages under limited tort may not collect them from uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage.
The claim is against a person in the business of designing, manufacturing, repairing, servicing or otherwise maintaining motor vehicles, over a defect that the business caused or failed to correct	You keep full tort rights for that claim. The exception does not cover a defect in a vehicle that the business itself operates.
You were injured as an occupant of a motor vehicle other than a private passenger motor vehicle	You keep full tort rights.

Who your choice binds

The option the named insured elects applies to everyone insured under the policy who is not a named insured on another policy. The statute counts as insured a spouse or other relative living in the household, and a minor in the custody of the named insured or of a relative. Where more than one policy applies to the same person and the policies carry different tort options, that person is bound by the option on the policy for the car they were riding in if they are insured on it, and by full tort otherwise.

Two other rules are worth knowing. Someone who does not own a currently registered private passenger vehicle, and who is not insured under anyone’s policy, is not limited at all. And the owner of a currently registered private passenger vehicle who carries no insurance is treated as having chosen limited tort, whatever they would have wanted.

What the limited tort option does to the premium is covered on the cheap car insurance in Philadelphia page. Which option to take is your decision. How a court would read serious injury in your case is a question for a lawyer, not for an agent or for this site.

First party benefits: the amounts the law makes available

Your own policy pays your medical bills after a crash, regardless of fault, up to the medical benefit limit you bought. The required amount is $5,000. The benefit covers reasonable and necessary medical treatment and rehabilitative services, and the statute’s list runs from hospital, surgical and ambulance services to dental care, physical therapy, medications and prosthetic devices.

How much to carry is your decision, and how the benefit works alongside any health insurance you have is a question for a licensed agent. These are the amounts insurers must make available:

Benefit	What must be available to buy	What it does
Medical	Up to at least $100,000	Pays for reasonable and necessary medical treatment and rehabilitative services
Extraordinary medical	From $100,000 to $1,100,000	Pays medical and rehabilitation costs beyond $100,000, with a ceiling of $50,000 a year after the first 18 months and $1,000,000 in a lifetime
Income loss	Up to at least $2,500 a month, to at least $50,000 in all	Pays 80 percent of actual lost gross income, starting once five working days have been lost. It can include the reasonable cost of hiring a substitute for self-employment work.
Accidental death	Up to at least $25,000	Paid to the personal representative if an injury from the accident causes death within 24 months
Funeral	$2,500	Pays expenses directly related to the funeral, burial or cremation
Combination	Up to at least $177,500 in total, or benefits payable for up to three years from the accident, whichever comes first	One package in place of buying the medical, income loss, accidental death and funeral benefits separately

Everything above the required $5,000 of medical benefits is optional, and the statute lets insurers offer higher or lower limits than these as well.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage

These two coverages deal with other people’s lack of insurance. Uninsured motorist coverage applies to you, the relatives in your household and your passengers when you are injured by an at-fault driver who has no insurance, or by a hit and run driver. Underinsured motorist coverage applies when the at-fault driver does not have enough insurance to pay your claim. Neither covers damage to property.

Both must be offered with every policy, and both are optional. Rejecting either one takes a specific signed form, and you may ask in writing for limits equal to or lower than your bodily injury limits. For scale, the minimum bodily injury liability another driver must carry is $15,000 for one injured person.

Stacking

When you stack these coverages, the Department’s guide says, the limit for each covered vehicle is multiplied by the number of vehicles on the policy, and coverage can also be combined across more than one policy under which you are insured. By law stacking applies unless you sign a waiver, and the statute says the premium is reduced if you waive it. A household with more than one car can ask the agent for the premium both ways.

Coverage for your own car: collision, comprehensive and the extras

Nothing described so far pays to fix or replace your own car. That is the job of two optional coverages. Collision pays to repair damage to your car from an accident. Comprehensive pays for theft and for damage from hazards such as fire, flood, vandalism and striking an animal.

Theft is one hazard with public figures for the city. Philadelphia County accounted for 68 percent of the auto theft reported in Pennsylvania in 2025, according to the state’s crime reporting figures as of March 2026, and auto theft rose 4 percent in the county that year while it fell 3 percent statewide. Comprehensive is the only coverage described on this page that pays for a stolen car, and it is optional.

Both coverages carry a deductible, the amount you pay before the insurer does. State law requires a $500 deductible to be offered on collision, alongside whatever higher or lower ones the company sells, and bars a lender from requiring less than $500. Then there are the extras:

• Gap coverage pays the difference between the insurer’s payment for a totaled car and the balance of the loan. It does not pay deductibles, missed payments or late fees, and it often has a limit.
• Rental reimbursement pays, up to the limit on the policy, to rent a car after a covered collision or comprehensive loss.
• Towing coverage reimburses towing and labor up to its limit. It is usually only available when you carry comprehensive and collision.
• Belongings are not the car. Personal effects and equipment not permanently installed by the manufacturer, such as custom stereo systems, are generally not covered unless they are declared and added to the policy.

Questions to raise with an agent, by how you use the car

The table lists questions, not recommendations. It matches common situations in Philadelphia to the parts of a policy this page has described, so that you know what to ask a licensed agent to explain and price.

Your situation	What to ask the agent about
The car is parked on the street overnight, whether in South Philadelphia, Fishtown, Kensington or anywhere else in the city	Comprehensive and the deductibles offered on it, and whether your car’s antitheft system qualifies for the discount the law requires on comprehensive. The Auto Theft Prevention Authority says nearly 50 percent of the state’s stolen cars were left unlocked by their owners.
You drive Broad Street or Roosevelt Boulevard every day	Liability limits, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and collision. The City calls Broad Street one of its busiest and most dangerous roads, and both corridors have speed cameras.
The car has a loan	Most banks or lenders require collision and comprehensive for a car loan. Gap coverage is the extra that deals with owing more than the car is worth.
An older car that you own outright	What collision and comprehensive cost on it. The Insurance Department notes they may not be cost-effective on a car worth less than $1,000.
You carry passengers for Uber or Lyft	Most personal policies do not cover you while carrying a passenger for hire. Ask whether the insurer offers an endorsement, and what the company you drive for covers.
A teenager in the household is learning to drive	Some companies require a teen to be added on getting a learner’s permit. Ask about discounts for good grades or driver education.
Every named insured is 55 or older	The driver improvement course discount of at least 5 percent that the law requires insurers to give.
Two or more cars on one policy	The premium with stacked uninsured and underinsured motorist limits, and with stacking waived.
Your pay would stop if you were injured	Income loss benefits: what they pay under the statute and what they cost.

Checking the company behind the policy

Price is one measure of an insurer. The Insurance Department suggests also weighing customer service, whether the coverage offered is adequate, and any history of complaints or misconduct, and it publishes a tool that compares consumer complaints against insurers. The car insurance companies in Philadelphia page shows how to use it, how to confirm a license, and the deadlines a company must meet when you make a claim.

The decisions to have made before you sign

• Liability limits: the minimum, or a higher figure you have had priced.
• Full tort or limited tort, chosen with the premium for each in front of you.
• The amount of medical benefits.
• Income loss and the other optional first party benefits: yes or no.
• Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage: kept or rejected, at what limits, stacked or not.
• Collision and comprehensive: yes or no, and a deductible for each.
• The agent and the company looked up with the Insurance Department.

With those settled, the car insurance quotes in Philadelphia page explains how to ask for prices that can be compared. For the legal basics, including proof of insurance and what follows a lapse, see car insurance in Philadelphia.

Questions and answers